LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

About this resource

Appropriate grades
6–8
Subjects
science (general)
Provider
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Legal

Creative Commons License

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In this Science Update, students explore how paleontologists can learn about the behavior of dinosaurs by examining the fossilized bones they left behind. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions that engage students in a discussion about whether Tyrannosaurus rex was a hunter or a scavenger, based on the evidence of by fossilized bones. The lesson plan also provides links to the T. rex exhibit at the London Museum of Natural History and the University of California, Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Science (2005)

Grade 6

  • Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
    • Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
    • Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
      • Explain observations.
      • Make inferences and predictions.
      • Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
    • Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
      • Communicate findings.
      • Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
    • Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
      • Research.
      • Gather and analyze data
      • Visualize data.
      • Disseminate findings to others.
    • Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
      • Scientific text.
      • Articles.
      • Events in the popular press.

Grade 7

  • Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
    • Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
    • Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
      • Explain observations.
      • Make inferences and predictions.
      • Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
    • Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
      • Communicate findings.
      • Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
    • Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
      • Research.
      • Gather and analyze data.
      • Visualize data.
      • Disseminate findings to others.
    • Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
      • Scientific text.
      • Articles.
      • Events in the popular press.

Grade 8

  • Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
    • Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
    • Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
      • explain observations.
      • make inferences and predictions.
      • develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
    • Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
      • Communicate findings.
      • Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
      • Describe strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and/or data.
    • Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
      • Research.
      • Gather and analyze data.
      • Visualize data.
      • Disseminate findings to others.
    • Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
      • Scientific text.
      • Articles.
      • Events in the popular press.
  • Goal 5: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to build an understanding of evidence of evolution in organisms and landforms.
    • Objective 5.01: Interpret ways in which rocks, fossils, and ice cores record Earth's geologic history and the evolution of life including:
      • Geologic Time Scale.
      • Index Fossils.
      • Law of Superposition.
      • Unconformity.
      • Evidence for climate change.
      • Extinction of species.
      • Catastrophic events.
    • Objective 5.02: Correlate evolutionary theories and processes:
      • Biological.
      • Geological.
      • Technological.